Page:Two Treatises of Government.djvu/15

Chap. I. §. 1. Slavery is ſo vile and miſerable an eſtate of man, and ſo directly oppoſte to the generous temper and courage of our nation; that it is hardly to be conceived, that an Engliſhman, much leſs a gentleman, ſhould plead for it. And truly I ſhould have taken Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarcha, as any other treatiſe, which would perſuade all men, that they are ſlaves, and ought to be ſo, for ſuch another exerciſe of wit, as was his who writ the encomium of Nero; rather than for a ſerious diſcourſe meant in earneſt, had not the gravity of the title and epiſtle, the picture in the front of the book, and the applauſe that followed it, required me to believe, that the